


Nice to See You

by brunchywrites



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Harry's a recluse who would'a thought, I've also combined ideas from a few fics slash books so if u see the references ayeee, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Canon, This is like a post everything au, draco's a teacher, idk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-12 15:00:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18013079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brunchywrites/pseuds/brunchywrites
Summary: Draco's moved on from the wizarding world but a happy accident brings both him and Harry together nearly a decade later. They're trying to catch up with each other in the best worse way, and it turns out they're not quite the same people anymore.. but that spark is still there. Harry's desire to know Draco, and Draco's desire to be left the hell alone.





	1. A breakfast date

**Author's Note:**

> Hi yes It's 2019 and I'm still writing fanfiction. Updates won't be regular but they'll all probably be around this length. There isn't a lot of plot either this is generally just light fluff and angst around the idea of Draco having moved on and Harry being stuck in the past. 
> 
> Yodel in the comments if u liked it because i crave sweet sweet validation.

The mug of sweet blueberry tea is warm against Draco’s hands, warming the chill that settles in his bones. He’s never thought in a million years that he would be back in the Wizarding World, or so close to Hogwarts at all for that matter.   
  
But life has a habit of sending Draco in the complete opposite way he believes he’ll go in, and he’s sitting in the Three Broomsticks Inn with Harry fucking Potter in front of him.  
  
And they haven’t talked in a decade.   
  
It’s the most awkward conversation he’s had in his life.  
  
“You look well,” he speaks slowly, making sure he isn’t dreaming. Surely he should be, just a week ago he was at his usual teaching job in Brooklyn, and now he’s back in England.   
  
It’s madness, really.   
  
A small smile stretches over Harry’s whiskery  face, “You don’t have to push yourself.”  
  
But he isn’t pushing himself, he’s simply being honest. Draco hasn’t given anyone a thought really since he went overseas. It’s easy to forget about his past when he’s been focusing so hard on his future.  
  
“Well, it wasn’t a lie, you do look well,” Harry looks healthier than Draco’s ever seen him. His shoulders are broad and he fills out the lavender jumper he’s wearing marvelously. Draco remembers a time where everything Harry wore hung off him like he was a clothing hanger.    
  
Draco brings his cup of tea to his lips and blows against the steam, peering over the lip of it to gaze at Harry. His eyes are locked on him and Draco wants to quip something. Maybe mention how pictures last much longer than a memory.  
  
Instead he sips his tea, and he crosses one leg over the other while he  looks back. Harry has a full beard, and his hair is long enough to be tied up into a bun that’s only being held by a quill. It’s a messy look but it’s all very Potter in nature. Messy, disorganized, yet somehow cozy in nature.  
  
“So..” Harry starts slowly, twiddling his thumbs together like he has nothing better to do, but Draco’s done small talk  a million times, and he’s patient.   
  
“So?” Draco prods a little. They were grown adults, not two students on a first date with nothing to say. If this could even be called a date so much as it was supposedly a meeting between two old friends, as if they were ever friends in the first place.  
  
“What are you up to these days?”  
  
Aha, the beloved question came, and Draco already has an answer. It’s purely mechanical, ever since coming back to England most of everyone has asked him what he’s been up to. Blaise, Pansy, even his mother. Everyone likes to pry and Harry can’t seem to avoid it either.

 

Really, he shouldn’t be so hard on him.    
  


“Teaching,” he takes another sip of his tea and he sets the cup down with a dainty clink. “I teach Psychology and Music theory at an American high school, nothing more, nothing less. But you know the psychology part already.”   
  
Harry chuckles, finally putting his hands into his lap instead of fiddling with his fingers, “I do, your students are quite hilarious. Did you know that it was me they were writing to?”   
  
“Honestly? Not a damn clue. It was an experiment in how friendship can be strained when there’s distance involved and what you can do to stay close with an individual or someone you’ve never seen face to face. I had no idea that three of them were writing to you.”   
  
“They’re a funny lot, your students. They’re very passionate, but I’m amazed they thought wand-making was just a hobby job though..”  
  
Draco clicks his tongue, “Well, they’re human. They’ve no clue what the wizarding world is even like and I’m not keen on breaking that news to them.”   
  
“I get that, I was just teasing,” and there he goes with that smile again.  “But what made you decide to become a teacher? I’d never think that you’d go that direction.”   
  
_Neither did I_ , “I don’t know, it sort of just.. Happened.”   
  
“Things don’t sort of just happen to you, Malfoy-”   
  
“Shh,” Draco snaps his fingers, and takes another much longer sip of tea, if only to watch Harry lean forward in his seat like Draco is about to tell the story of a millenia. Maybe it is the story of the millenia. No one could ever predict that Draco Malfoy would hitch tail and move to America, and teach at a human high school. Draco can remember the days of his parents arguing over what he should do when he graduates.   
  
_Be an Auror, no- a banker. Perhaps you should get into potions, that’d be a nice change of pace. Or politics- something that proves the Malfoy name still has power._  
  
“It just felt right, after a while. I took up a lot of jobs when I got to America, I was a clerk at an office, became a receptionist at a tattoo parlor, did some bartending. You know, normal people things,” he sighs a little at the memories. A lot of drunk tattoos at two in the morning and walking trashed college women to their cars and threatening any man that tried to get too close.   
  
“I got a job as a behaviorist at first, if that was even the proper term for the job. It wasn’t official and it was a job I managed to get through finally going to uni. I just helped some troubled boys get on track with their family and schooling, we met every Wednesday afternoon and we just.. Talked.”   
  
“You just ‘talked,’” Harry put air quotes around talked and Draco fights not to roll his eyes, “With troubled boys?”   
  
“Sometimes troubled boys just need an outlet, and sometimes that outlet was talking, sometimes it was trying to have a go at me. Most of the time they just had to yell, vent their frustrations so that they could focus on other things. It was nice, watching them grow and become better people. I wanted to keep going with that so I decided to start focusing more on a psychology major.”   
  
“But you also teach music theory-”   
  
“Shhhh,” Draco snap his fingers again, “I wasn’t finished yet, have some patience. You’re worse than some of my students, I swear.”   
  
“Sorry,” Harry leans back, sheepish look on his face as he looks around the little booth they’re seated at.   
  
“You’re alright,” he says automatically but doesn’t take the time to take his words back. “I double majored in music theory, I teach kids how to write their own music from scratch. They quite enjoy that much more than psychology.”   
  
“I can imagine, ah. The food’s coming.”  
  
Draco looks up, half expecting a person to be standing just behind his shoulder until he remembers that he’s not at a normal restaurant. The food floats on top of their table and his stomach fills with dread.   
  
He’s ordered a simple bowl of porridge with a bowl of strawberries on the side, he’s ordered it over a dozen times before. He should in theory be fine with it, but he’s not. Maybe because it’s floated onto the table, maybe because it used to be one of his favorite things.  
  
He swallows down a lump in his throat and looks at Harry, who’s already tucking into his breakfast with gusto. He wishes they could resume their conversation but instead he starts peeling the leaves off his strawberries, slowly chopping them and putting them in his bowl.   
  
He stirs it with a spoon and takes a bite. It’s good, perfectly sweet in the best way. It’s exactly how he remembers it being.   
  
The memory is bittersweet, and he returns back to his tea before he’s managed a third bite. They sit in an awkward silence for quite a while before either of them speak again.   
  
“It was nice catching up,” Draco finishes off his cup of tea, his food barely touched. Not that he cares. He’s already paid his part of the bill and he’s standing up to get his coat and leave. He’s had enough of England to last him a lifetime and he has to get back to America in due to time to make it to a teacher planning day. That and he wants out of the Wizarding World, it’s simply too much in the worst way.  
  
This was a very spur of the moment decision on both of their parts. Not that he minds, it’s rather fun to do things spontaneously but Draco will always be a planner at heart, and when he’s had enough he’s had enough.   
  
“You’re just going to leave like that?”  
  
“You almost sound offended, Potter,” Draco scoffs and makes it to the coat rack, tossing his jacket over his shoulders and shooting the man a pointed look. “I do have work to attend to. We all can’t make wands in the mountains.”  
  
Harry’s cheeks flush and he stands awkwardly in front of him, as if he doesn’t know what to say but wants to say something.   
  
And Draco has enough patience to manage. He crosses one arm over the other, and he waits with an eyebrow raised and a tapping foot.    
  
“-Your phone number..”   
  
“Beg pardon?” Is Harry seriously asking for his number? Does Harry even own a phone? It’s the golden age of technology, Draco seriously doubts he has anything more than a landline.   
  
“I want your phone number, am I speaking in elf or-”   
  
Draco rolls his eyes, “I highly doubt that someone like you would even have a phone. Is this an attempt of you trying to stay in contact?”   
  
“Is it that obvious?” Harry throws his hands up in defeat, “This is the first time we’ve talked since eighth year..”   
  
_Let’s not touch that year with a ten foot pole,_ Draco thinks. But he doesn’t interrupt.   
  
“And I want to get to know you again. Letters take forever overseas and I know you’re not going to use an owl-”   
  
“Certainly not-”   
  
Harry huffs again and Draco lets him continue while looking at his watch, for emphasis of course.   
  
“I don’t want to lose contact with you again.”   
  
Draco looks up at him, and _truly_ looks at him. Harry has a pleading look in his eyes,he’s desperate, for what Draco doesn’t know, nor can he theorize. When he left Hogwarts he got the stark impression that they both left on semi-decent terms. They certainly didn’t talk, and they weren’t even friends. At the very least they respected each other for what they both did to help when the time came of rit.   
  
“Alright,” he’s sure the shock is evident on his face, but he pulls a small pocketbook from his coat and scribbles down his number. He tears the paper and hands it over to Harry. “If you actually get a phone, you might want to get an international plan,” he winks over his shoulder on his way out and Harry straightens his glasses with a shake of his head and a chuckle.   
  
“Some things never change I see,” Harry is smiling, brighter than he has since they sat down.  
  
“They never really do, do they?”


	2. Normal Day, Normal Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco forgot that he gave Harry his number and unfortunately they're both persistent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeehaw i did thattt. please comment if you liked it because!!! i love validation. also this is more exposition stuff, i think the next chapter will be the last bit in this sort of awkward stage before i kick some shit off ayeee.

Draco honestly didn’t think about his trip to England, he has much bigger things on his plate to focus on and one silly meeting with Harry Potter isn’t one of them.   
  
He’s straightening out the assignments in his drawers, putting them in order so he can grade them once he’s home. Then his phone buzzes once, then twice, and then a third time.   
  
He can hear some of his students gasping, of course it’s sarcastic gasping. He doesn’t expect much else from them.    
  
“Oh, Mr. Malfoy! Your phone is buzzing, did you finally meet someone.. Special?”  
  
“Augustine, focus on your work.”   
  
“Don’t do Augustine dirty like that! Come on Mr. Malfoy. You’re the world’s biggest recluse to ever exist. Tell us who it-oh shit, nevermind.” Kendrick throws his hands up in surrender and goes back to reading through his textbook.  
  
Kendrick and Augustine, the class’ dynamic clown duo. Draco has long since gotten used to them and their theatrics. He knows how to shut the two of them down with a pointed glare and a snap of his fingers. Draco would never yell at his students, but he could give them a look that made their blood run cold.  
  
“It isn’t anyone’s business, honestly, you two,” he shook his head and pulled his phone out of his back pocket, looking at the screen, “It’s probably solicitors in the first place..”   
  
But it isn’t a solicitor, it’s a set of very specific text messages. He nearly forgot that he’d given his number to Harry in the first place.   
  
_I got a smartphone :p_ _  
__Can we Call?_ _  
__Hello?_ _  
_ _  
_ Draco rolls his eyes and taps out a very quick response,   _Some of us have work._ _  
_ _  
_ And he puts his phone on silent and slips it back into his pocket.    
  
“So.. who was it?”   
  
“Augustine, enough.”   
  
The boy huffs and kicks his legs up on the chair opposite of him, “You’re the most boring person on Earth. I just want to know what has your phone buzzing for once.”   
  
Draco scoffs, “I’m not _that_ boring. But truly it was nobody-”   
  
“Oh my god is it that British crackhead? The one who makes wands in the mountains and talks to deer and shit?” Kendrick interrupts suddenly, looking up at Draco like an excited puppy.  
  
Ah yes, he forgot that _British Crackhead_ was what his students knew Potter as. He can’t help the smile that twitches onto his lips as he rolls his eyes.   
  
“And if it was?”   
  
“Wack, Mr. Malfoy. Just, wack. The dude’s a complete nut, now I know you’ve been single for a while but you have to keep your standards higher than this.”   
  
“You assume that I like this crackhead romantically?” Draco raises a brow, “And my standards are high, it’s how I avoid messes.”   
  
“Yeah but like,” Augustine pops the gum in his mouth and leans forward dramatically. By this time the whole class is paying attention to their conversation even if they’re pretending to read. It’s fine, they only have five minutes before the bell rings.   
  
“But like?” Draco urges him.   
  
“What is he to you? You’re british, he’s british. Did you guys know each other or something? When you read his letters you looked like, super disgusted, like a cat had shit on your socks.”   
  
What is Harry to him? He supposes he was nothing for a while, a distant memory of kindness but bittersweet pain. Seeing him again had been weird, like it wasn't’ supposed to happen. He thinks about the proper way to put it and figures that the shorter the response the better.   
  
“We went to the same private academy, that’s all,” he shrugs, “There’s nothing more to it. I did however think he was going to enter the police force.. Not live in the mountains and make wands,” not that it’s Draco’s place to judge either. He himself had moved countries and took up the most unappreciated job to ever exist.    
  
“Whoa, that’s wild. So it’s like, weird high school drama finally unfolding?”   
  
“Absolutely not, if anything it’s more like a low version of a highschool reunion that wasn’t supposed to happen.”   
  
“Damn, was school that tough?”   
  
Draco sighs and shakes his head, “You have no idea.”   
  
The bell rings after he speaks and everyone packs up their things, Augustine and Kendrick flash him cheeky grins and run out of the room like a cat that just got the cream. In some ways he supposes they did. Draco isn’t open about most of his life, all he gives his students is the fact that he lives alone, has some cats, and went to a private boarding school in England. So he’s positive they’re beside themselves with the new information that the British Crackhead and himself had gone to school together.   
  
Speaking of, he checks his phone on the way to his desk and more notifications flash on his screen.   
  
_Oh shit I forgot you have a job job._ _  
_ _  
__Well it’s supper time over here, just text when you can._ __  
  


_ Can we call? I want to talk to you. Wait that seems weird.  _ __   
  


_Nevermind. :P_ _  
_ _  
_ Draco rolls his eyes for the umpteenth time that day, and dials his number.   
  
While it rings he grabs his bag and keys from under his chair and locks his classroom door behind him, not worried about the mess. All of his students are tidy, it was one of the things he taught at the beginning of the year.   
  
He’s halfway out of the school when the other line picks up, at first it’s only static but he hears someone clearing their throat.   
  
“How does this damn thing work..”   
  
“You just talk, Potter. There’s nothing more to it,” he says as he exits the building, walking up to his car and unlocking the door. The late fall chill is in the air and he mentally reminds himself to start taking his coat out of his car.   
  
“Oh! That’s easy, haha..”   
  
“Mhm,” he starts the engine, buckling up and turning the bluetooth function in his car on so that he can put his phone on to charge. He wonders what Harry is doing, or how he’s handling a smartphone. It’s comical to think about.   
  
“You said you wanted to talk? What about?”   
  
“I don’t know, anything?”   
  
“Are you telling me you got a smartphone just to talk about ‘anything’ with me? I find that a little hard to believe.”   
  
The oranges and reds from the leaves fly past his windows as he drives and he feels himself tightening his grip around the wheel. He doesn’t want another connection to the wizarding world, he’s had enough of it through his bloodline, thank you.    
  
“I mean.. No but yeah?”   
  
“Listen..”   
  
“Malfoy I’m being serious here, you dropped off the face of the Earth and ten years later we see each other again? That isn’t normal.”   
  
He forces himself to exhale slowly, keep his cool. There’s a lot of things in the world that aren’t normal, thank you very much.    
  
“I’ve moved on from the wizarding world, Potter. I don’t talk to my parents, or my aunts. I don’t keep up with the wizarding world here in America either. If I wanted to keep a tie to that part of my life it certainly wouldn’t be through you. So, I’m going to ask you one more time..”   
  
“Don’t ask. I got the explanation right here, I see you’re still as hard headed as before?”  
  
“You expected something different?”  
  
“Everyone thinks your dead, so excuse me for wanting to talk to a dead man.”   
  
Draco can’t help it, he snorts and puts his forehead against his wheel while he’s at a red light. So that’s the rumor that’s spread? Certainly his mother didn’t spread it but at the same time.. He hadn’t been writing her like he should have been. Maybe she did think he was dead.    
  
“Is that what Rita Skeeter has been saying in the news or is that your fantastic deduction? I don’t know if you’ve noticed Potter, but I am in fact alive. Look, the wizarding world wants nothing to do with me and I want nothing to do with it. It took me a long time to seperate myself from magic, not that it’s your business.”   
  
“How can you just cut off part of yourself like that?” Harry’s voice is full of venom, and he can hear the way his tongue snaps like a whip. Draco can easily picture the look on his face.   
  
He looks up and goes when the light is green, he doesn’t know what to say. It took him a long time to come to the conclusion that dropping the magic side of him was necessary. It’s a long story and he’s already pulling into the parking lot to his apartment building.   
  
“It’s not your business nor is it anyone else’s but mine. If you’re wanting an answer I’m not going to give it to you, my life isn’t your book to read.”  
  
He takes his phone in his hand, ready to end the call when Harry speaks again,   
  
“Do you not care that people think you’re dead?”   
  
“No, I don’t care! It’s fucking good that they think I’m dead because then they’ll leave me alone! The entire wizarding world and it’s stupid system can go to hell! Christ, was this just some sort of intervention, Potter? Trying to get me to come back?”   
  
“No!”   
  
“Then what __is this?” He turns his car off and falls back against the seat, thumb hovering the red end call button.  
  
“I already said it, I just want to talk, Malfoy. I want to talk how normal people talk to each other, not through letters or howlers.. Just, talking.”   
  
“You’re serious?” He can hardly believe it, there’s no way. Why would Harry Potter want anything to do with normalcy? Last Draco checked the man was in love with everything magical save for the Voldemort part.   
  
“Deadly.”   
  
He sighs heavily, “Look, we can talk more tomorrow but I’m going to tell you right now that me talking to you is the most definite maybe to exist. I have a busy schedule and we both live in different time zones. I have to grade some assignments, goodbye.”   
  
“Uh- Okay! See you-”   
  
Draco ends the call and stares at his phone, he’s either made a big mistake or just made another problem for himself.   
  
He’s banking on big mistake.


	3. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco and Harry discuss their plans for Christmas Holiday and it doesn't quite go as.. planned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! I didn't edit this sorry if there's any mistakes!!!!

  
It’s a nice rainy sunday and Draco’s just finishing up grading essays. It’s been quiet, and busy. He kept a flow going and he marks up the last essay when Merlin hops into his lap.   
  
Merlin is Draco’s pride and joy. He’s a six year old, horribly chunky cat that managed to wiggle his way into his heart by being an absolutely precious stray. All attempts to put him on a diet failed because he’d simply eat more food to compensate, then get out and be fed by the neighbors. Merlin’s simply a fat cat at heart and Draco didn’t see a reason to make him lose weight, after all the cat gets around just fine. That, and Merlin is horribly stubborn.  
  
“Oh? Have I been neglecting you, poor thing?” He gently scratches under his chin and smiles when Merlin purrs affectionately. Draco doesn’t describe himself as an animal person, as most of his life animals have rightly hated him… for some reason Merlin adored him. It’s an odd match, but Merlin makes life a lot more enjoyable.   
  
His phone buzzes on the coffee table and he picks it up, he already knows who it is. He and Harry had unfortunately been calling each other nearly everyday for a month, it was truly ridiculous.   
  
“Hello?” He greets a little coldly, still petting through Merlin’s fur as gently as he can.   
  
_”Well don’t you sound chipper.”_  
  
“I was busy.”   
  
Harry laughs on the other line, _”Clearly not busy enough to not pick up. What are you up to, isn’t it about to be winter holiday?”_ _  
_  
Draco shrugs even though Harry can’t see him, “Finished up some essays, I’m about to finish writing a mid-term exam and then it’ll be testing all week-”   
  
_”And then break?”_ _  
_  
He sighs, “And then break, yes.” He turns the phone on speaker and sets it back down on the coffee table. Merlin’s still purring away and kneading at his lap like there’s no tomorrow.    
  
_”Do you have any plans for Christmas?”_ Harry asks, his voice even softer. For what reason Draco honestly isn’t sure. He feels like he’s talked about his plans for Christmas a dozen times but that might’ve only been with his students and colleagues.   
  
Draco clicks his tongue, and responds very simply, “Getting horribly drunk with my friends and trying to find my way back to my apartment from the bar. It’s truly a challenge you know, I’ve been going to the same bar for god knows how long and I can never find my way back without a gps.”   
  
_”Is that.. Really your plans for the holiday?”_  
  
“It is indeed, has been for the past five years. It’s tradition, you know? Don’t pity me, it’s all in good fun,” Merlin perks his head up and Draco coos at him quietly so Harry won’t hear.    
  
Harry makes a disgruntled noise on the other end, _”Well, I actually wanted to invite you to the Weasley’s this year-”_  
  
As fast as Draco wants to shut down the idea instead he jokes about it, deflects it so he won’t have to address again why it’s a bad idea for him to get involved in the wizarding world again,   
  
“My, my, Potter. You have me feeling like a grade school girl about to meet her boyfriend’s parents for the first time. No, absolutely not. I feel like we’ve discussed this before, I’m getting deja vu-”   
  
_”I know it’s a silly suggestion but I thought you might want to try Wizarding Life when it’s not.. So cold.”_  
  
“That’s awful kind of you, but I’m going to decline. I already have plans here that I must keep up with.”  
  
Draco gently plucks a piece of dust out of Merlin’s fur while he talks, “Besides, the Weasley’s hate me, why on Earth would I go?”  
  
_”I can never stress it enough that people think you’re dead and did in fact mourn your loss.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “Oh, I’m sure Molly Weasley wept upon my metaphorical gravestone-”   
  
_”You were a product of your environment, I think she was one of the few who understood that. Or at least she told me herself she realized it after blasting Bellatrix.”_  
  
“Auntie Bellatrix was a nut…always was a nut though. Anyways, I don’t need anyone to understand me. I’m fine with.. Whatever way people think of me. I don’t care anymore, images are for the famous and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Potter.. But I’m just a school teacher, only famous amongst horrible students and their underclassmen friends.”   
  
_”I just wanted to let you know that she wouldn’t hate it if you wanted to come or actually came. But since you don’t want to come I have another question.”_ __  


Draco whistles, “Shoot.” 

 

 _”Could I come to America for Christmas?”_ _  
_  
“You want to come here for Christmas?” He can’t hide his confusion.   
  
_”That is what I said. I want to see you again so why not for the holidays? I can get my own place, and you can show me around?”__  
  
Draco licks his lips in thought. Hypothetically it’s possible, but getting the paperwork can be hard. Harry probably has a 50/50 chance of being able to make it in a week.   
  
“If you absolutely want to, and if you can get the paperwork in time. I’ll have you know I’m not changing my plans to get absolutely plastered on Christmas.”   
  
__”I sure would hope not. I oughta hang up if I want to get the paperwork in. Can we call tomorrow?”  
  
“Of course, have a good rest of your day,” he reaches over and hangs up, unsure if Harry said anything back  
  
He sighs and relaxes against his couch, looking back down at Merlin and scratching behind his ears.   
  
“What am I going to do with that man, hm?” He closes his eyes and sighs heavily through his nose. One week- he has one week to know if Harry will actually be coming to America.   
  
He really should’ve said no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed this fic please comment what you liked about it! I love hearing people's opinions and having conversation. Thank youu


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